In the morning, though the wind had somewhat gone down, ’twas still dismal1 and wild enough; and to the consternation2 of poor Mrs. Macnamara, as she sat alone in her window after breakfast, Miss Mag and the major being both abroad, a hackney coach drew up at the door, which stood open. The maid was on the step, cheapening fish with a virulent3 lady who had a sieve-full to dispose of.
A gentleman, with a large, unwholesome face, and a patch over one eye, popped his unpleasant countenance4, black wig5, and three-cocked hat, out of the window, and called to the coachman to let him out.
Forth6 he came, somewhat slovenly7, his coat not over-well brushed, having in his hand a small trunk, covered with gilt8 crimson9 leather, very dingy10, and somewhat ceremoniously assisted a lady to alight. This dame11, as she stepped with a long leg, in a black silk stocking, to the ground, swept the front windows of the house from under her velvet12 hood13 with a sharp and evil glance; and in fact she was Mistress Mary Matchwell.
As she beheld14 her, poor Mrs. Mack’s heart fluttered up to her mouth, and then dropped with a dreadful plump, into the pit of her stomach. The dingy, dismal gentleman, swinging the red trunk in his hand, swaggered lazily back and forward, to stretch his legs over the pavement, and air his large cadaverous countenance, and sniff15 the village breezes.
Mistress Matchwell in the meantime, exchanging a passing word with the servant, who darkened and drew back as if a ghost had crossed her, gathered her rustling16 silks about her, and with a few long steps noiselessly mounted the narrow stairs, and stood, sallow and terrible in her sables17, before the poor gentlewoman.
With two efforts Mrs. Mack got up and made a little, and then a great courtesy, and then a little one again, and tried to speak, and felt very near fainting.
‘See,’ says Mary Matchwell, ‘I must have twenty pounds — but don’t take on. You must make an effort, my dear —’tis the last. Come, don’t be cast down. I’ll pay you when I come to my property, in three weeks’ time; but law expenses must be paid, and the money I must have.’
Hereupon Mrs. Mack clasped her hands together in an agony, and ‘set up the pipes.’
M. M. was like to lose patience, and when she did she looked most feloniously, and in a way that made poor soft Mrs. Mack quiver.
‘’Tis but twenty pounds, woman,’ she said, sternly. ‘Hub-bub-bub-boo-hoo-hoo,’ blubbered the fat and miserable18 Mrs. Macnamara. ‘It will be all about — I may as well tell it myself. I’m ruined! My Venetian lace — my watch — the brocade not made up. It won’t do. I must tell my brother; I’d rather go out for a charwoman and starve myself to a skeleton, than try to borrow more money.’
Mrs. Matchwell advanced her face towards the widow’s tearful countenance, and held her in the spell of her dreadful gaze as a cat does a bird.
‘Why, curse you, woman, do you think ’tis to rob you I mean?—‘tisn’t a present even — only a loan. Stop that blubbering, you great old mouth! or I’ll have you posted all over the town in five minutes. A loan, Madam; and you need not pay it for three months — three whole months — there!’
Well, this time it ended as heretofore — poor Mrs. Mack gave way. She had not a crown-piece, indeed, that she could call her own; but M. M. was obliging, and let her off for a bill of exchange, the nature of which, to her dying day, the unhappy widow could never comprehend, although it caused her considerable affliction some short time subsequently.
Away went Mary Matchwell with her prize, leaving an odour of brandy behind her. Her dingy and sinister19 squire20 performed his clumsy courtesies, and without looking to the right or left, climbed into the coach after her, with his red trunk in his hand; and the vehicle was again in motion, and jingling21 on at a fair pace in the direction of Nutter22’s house, The Mills, where her last visit had ended so tragically23.
Now, it so happened that just as this coach, with its sombre occupants, drew up at The Mills, Doctor Toole was standing24 on the steps, giving Moggy a parting injunction, after his wont25; for poor little Mrs. Nutter had been thrown into a new paroxysm by the dreadful tidings of her Charlie’s death, and was now lying on her bed, and bathing the pillow in her tears.
‘Is this the tenement26 called the Mills, formerly27 in the occupation of the late Charles Nutter — eh?’ demanded the gentleman, thrusting his face from the window, before the coachman had got to the door.
‘It is, Sir,’ replied Toole, putting Moggy aside, and suspecting, he could not tell what amiss, and determined28 to show front, and not averse29 from hearing what the visit was about. ‘But Mrs. Nutter is very far from well, Sir; in fact, in her bed-chamber, Sir, and laid upon her bed.’
‘Mrs. Nutter’s here, Sir,’ said the man phlegmatically30. He had just got out on the ground before the door, and extended his hand toward Mary Matchwell, whom he assisted to alight.
‘This is Mrs. Nutter, relict of the late Charles Nutter, of The Mills, Knockmaroon, in the parish of Chapelizod.’
‘At your service, Sir,’ said Mary Matchwell, dropping a demure31 courtesy, and preparing to sail by him.
‘Not so fast, Ma’am, if you please,’ said Toole, astonished, but still sternly and promptly32 enough. ‘In with you, Moggy, and bar the kitchen door.’
And shoving the maid back, he swung the door to, with a slam. He was barely in time, and Mary Matchwell, baffled and pale, confronted the doctor, with the devil gleaming from her face.
‘Who are you, man, that dare shut my own door in my face?’ said the beldame.
‘Toole’s my name, Madam,’ said the little doctor, with a lofty look and a bow. ‘I have the honour to attend here in a professional capacity.’
‘Ho! a village attorney,’ cried the fortune-teller, plainly without having consulted the cards or the planets. ‘Well, Sir, you’d better stand aside, for I am the Widow Nutter, and this is my house; and burn me, but one way or another, in I’ll get.’
‘You’d do well to avoid a trespass33, Ma’am, and better to abstain34 from house breaking; and you may hammer at the knocker till you’re tired, but they’ll not let you in,’ rejoined Toole. ‘And as to you being the Widow Nutter, Ma’am, that is widow of poor Charles Nutter, lately found drowned, I’ll be glad to know, Ma’am, how you make that out.’
‘Stay, Madam, by your leave,’ said the cadaverous, large-faced man, interposing. ‘We are here, Sir, to claim possession of this tenement and the appurtenances, as also of all the money, furniture, and other chattels35 whatsoever36 of the late Charles Nutter; and being denied admission, we shall then serve certain cautionary and other notices, in such a manner as the court will, under the circumstances, and in your presence, being, by your admission, the attorney of Sarah Hearty37, calling herself Nutter —’
‘I did not say I was,’ said Toole, with a little toss of his chin.
The gentleman’s large face here assumed a cunning leer.
‘Well, we have our thoughts about that, Sir,’ he said. ‘But by your leave, we’ll knock at the hall-door.’
‘I tell you what, Sir,’ said Toole, who had no reliance upon the wisdom of the female garrison38, and had serious misgivings39 lest at the first stout40 summons the maids should open the door, and the ill-favoured pair establish themselves in occupation of poor Mrs. Nutter’s domicile, ‘I’ll not object to the notices being received. There’s the servant up at the window there — but you must not make a noise; Mrs. Nutter, poor woman, is sick and hypochondriac, and can’t bear a noise; but I’ll permit the service of the notices, because, you see, we can afford to snap our fingers at you. I say, Moggy, open a bit of that window, and take in the papers that this gentleman will hand you. There, Sir, on the end of your cane41, if you please — very good.’
‘’Twill do, she has them. Thank you, Miss,’ said the legal practitioner42, with a grin. ‘Now, Ma’am, we’d best go to the Prerogative43 Court.’
Mary Matchwell laughed one of her pale malevolent44 laughs up at the maid in the window, who stood there, with the papers in her hand, in a sort of horror.
‘Never mind,’ said Mary Matchwell, to herself, and, getting swiftly into the coach, she gleamed another ugly smile up at the window of The Mills, as she adjusted her black attire45.
‘To the Prerogative Court,’ said the attorney to the coachman.
‘In that house I’ll lie to-night,’ said Mary Matchwell, with a terrible mildness, as they drove away, still glancing back upon it, with her peculiar46 smile; and then she leaned back, with a sneer47 of superiority on her pallid48 features, and the dismal fatigue49 of the spirit that rests not, looked savagely50 out from the deep, haggard windows of her eyes.
When Toole saw the vehicle fairly off, you may be sure he did not lose time in getting into the house, and there conning51 over the papers, which puzzled him unspeakably.
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dismal
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| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
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consternation
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| n.大为吃惊，惊骇 | |
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virulent
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| adj.有毒的，有恶意的，充满敌意的 | |
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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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wig
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| n.假发 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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slovenly
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| adj.懒散的，不整齐的，邋遢的 | |
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gilt
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| adj.镀金的；n.金边证券 | |
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crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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dingy
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| adj.昏暗的，肮脏的 | |
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dame
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| n.女士 | |
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velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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hood
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| n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖 | |
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beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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sniff
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| vi.嗅…味道；抽鼻涕；对嗤之以鼻，蔑视 | |
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rustling
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| n. 瑟瑟声，沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的 | |
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sables
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| n.紫貂( sable的名词复数 )；紫貂皮；阴暗的；暗夜 | |
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miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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squire
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| n.护卫, 侍从, 乡绅 | |
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jingling
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| 叮当声 | |
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nutter
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| n.疯子 | |
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tragically
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| adv. 悲剧地，悲惨地 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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tenement
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| n.公寓；房屋 | |
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formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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averse
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| adj.厌恶的；反对的，不乐意的 | |
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phlegmatically
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demure
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| adj.严肃的；端庄的 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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trespass
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| n./v.侵犯，闯入私人领地 | |
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abstain
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| v.自制，戒绝，弃权，避免 | |
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chattels
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| n.动产，奴隶( chattel的名词复数 ) | |
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whatsoever
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| adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么 | |
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hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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garrison
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| n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
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misgivings
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| n.疑虑，担忧，害怕；疑虑，担心，恐惧( misgiving的名词复数 )；疑惧 | |
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cane
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| n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的 | |
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practitioner
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| n.实践者，从事者；(医生或律师等)开业者 | |
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prerogative
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| n.特权 | |
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44
malevolent
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| adj.有恶意的，恶毒的 | |
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45
attire
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| v.穿衣，装扮[同]array；n.衣着；盛装 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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sneer
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| v.轻蔑；嘲笑；n.嘲笑，讥讽的言语 | |
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48
pallid
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| adj.苍白的，呆板的 | |
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fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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50
savagely
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| adv. 野蛮地，残酷地 | |
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51
conning
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| v.诈骗，哄骗( con的现在分词 )；指挥操舵( conn的现在分词 ) | |
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